Hello all. I'm really sorry for not updating soon.. T^T Ahh.. I'm just going to stop making promises I can't keep.

Anyway. As I have been gone for a very long time, I felt like making Da Qiao & Sun Ce have a little time apart also - just seemed right :3

Hope you have a nice time reading this instalment. NOT making any promises about the next update this time... But I do hope I update soon enough also ==

As always, I will always appreciate your feedback in the comments.

Thank you all who still care about this fanfic. T^T

A New Light

- "To see the best before I have properly begun would be somewhat premature." [Kazuo Ishiguro]

The maids of the Qiao residence looked on in amusement as the two young ladies of the house seemed to be participating in some form of role reversal for the day.

"Sis, come on! Don't be difficult!" whined the younger sister as she pulled on the arm of the elder Qiao in an attempt to drag her into the carriage.

"Xiao, there is nothing for me over there. I refuse! Let go of me!" the older sister retorted.

"No!"

"No?" she repeated incredulously? "Well I say yes! Xiao Qiao, I can't go!" She understood that she was being immature. She understood that her father had warned her of this engagement a few days earlier. She understood that there really was no choice in the matter. Still, it didn't mean that she wouldn't go down without a fight.

"Da Qiao! I'll tell on you!"

"Do it then!"

"Really? Don't think I won't!"

"I don't care!"

The argument was childish and silly. It seemed as though the conversation had hit a dry wall as apparently neither side would back down in the foreseeable future. Naturally the maids' and menservants' amusement was heightened, but eventually they hushed up as the man of the house caused them to part and bow in his presence. They looked sheepish and were suddenly very busy with pruning the plants and flowers in the vicinity.

"Da Qiao, are you having trouble getting into the carriage?" Qiao Xuan asked with an amused smile. While his tone was light, the girls desisted with their bickering to converse with their father. Before his daughter had the chance to come up with a smart answer, he held up his hand. "Now, now my child, I understand you and Lord Sun Ce have had your… Ups and downs… But this is a special event that is held every year by the Sun family. It is a great honour that we have even been put on the guest list. After running out on Sun Jian last time, do you really think it wise to refuse his invitation?" Of course, the man knew that his dear friend did not care in the slightest about the palace mishap, it was more that the man of the house knew how his daughter's mind worked. Giving a knowing smile and nod to his younger daughter who was still holding on to her sister's arm, she let go and sat herself down in the carriage. Da Qiao knew that there really was no way out of going and so obediently entered and sat down after.

"Yes Father, I understand. I apologise for being so difficult," the older Qiao said. Her head was bowed down in shame; how could she behave so childishly?

As usual, Qiao Xuan merely chuckled. "You have nothing to apologise for, my treasure. You are simply young and headstrong… Just like your mother." The small family smiled in silence at the thought of the woman who would have completed the picture. "Now. Go. Have fun at the party, and I only want to hear joyful stories when you return." Qiao Xuan closed the door of the carriage and waved as it rode out of the estate. Even after it left, the man smiled as memories of his wife somehow found their way back to him. His girls were growing up so much and each day they reminded him more and more of the love of his life. While it made him extremely sad to think that she was gone, the light in his daughters' eyes reminded him that a piece of her would always be with him in them…

x x x x

The Wu Palace had been decorated brilliantly with banners of red and gold. Fifty servants, each holding delicious platters of delicacies from all over the country, circulated the important figures that were the guests of the evening. A live orchestra, playing popular music at the time, set the bubbly mood of the banquet hall. Certainly, there were many smiling faces at this event. After all, this celebration only came once a year: The Tiger Banquet. Quite honestly, there was no real reason for the original Tiger Banquet. Sun Jian had simply needed an excuse to throw a brilliant party. Ever since the first party had gone down so successfully, it seemed as though a tradition of sorts had been born.

At this point in time, he was not comfortable about being at the celebration. Not at all. Especially not now, since he had just happened to glance over the guest list that morning. The Little Conqueror wasn't ready to deal with the snobbish woman. Not only that, but he wondered whether it would be awkward to meet her again. After all, it had been two months since the two last met; the reason for this was partially planned, partially by accident - but mostly planned…

You see, at first another meeting had been set up only a few days after he had stayed over. However, annoyingly, that woman had cancelled with the very lame excuse of some kind of fatigue related illness. The most annoying part of that incident had to be the fact that he had been forced to make up a menu for the lunch meeting so that he would feel, somehow, 'more involved' with the process. Out of pure annoyance at her cancellation, he made his own last minute cancellation on the next arrangement. After that, Sun Ce and Zhou Yu had been entrusted with a special mission and were gone for a few weeks. To celebrate his return, Da Qiao and some other friends were invited for dinner. She unwillingly came along, insisting that her younger sister (who had no problem accepting) join her. Although on this occasion, the two did not meet because Sun Ce was thrown off of his horse and suffered a concussion. It hadn't been a serious injury, although he had to rest early so the return was delayed by a whole day. Naturally, the young lady that had taken the journey to see him felt quite stood up… Again.

So maybe yes, their little reunion at this festive occasion was going to be a little bit awkward.

"Well, I wouldn't worry so much Sun Ce. Just have fun, enjoy yourself." reassured his best friend, Zhou Yu. "Remember, you have other things to worry about tonight. Don't preoccupy yourself so much with thoughts of your lady…" The last part was said a little teasingly, and he dodged Sun Ce's half-hearted attempt at giving him a dead arm.

"Yeah, yeah…" Sun Ce had also been told that morning that he was to pay particular attention to a German diplomat… The man and his family had sailed in from so far in the west; his mother had told him that the man's wife was actually Chinese. The family was very apparently very excited to find out about the mother's heritage. Apart from that, he had been told that treating these guests hospitably would result in better relations with the west which, especially in the uncertain times the kingdom was facing at the moment, would not hurt at all.

A thought that had been on both of their minds was voiced by Zhou Yu. "Westerners… I wonder if there will be a huge cultural clash between us."

"Well, let's just hope there isn't. Besides, I reckon it won't be so hard. They're interested in the sights the kingdom has to offer? Who better to show them than us!"

The two young men continued their conversation, laughing as their pirate friend Gan Ning joined in and started with his crude jokes. His joke stopped short however when something caught his eye.

"Wow. Now I wouldn't mind havin' a go at those ladies.."

Zhou Yu and Sun Ce both looked curiously at their friend, turned to see what he was looking at and somehow it all became clear. It was Sun Ce's cue to groan and roll his eyes as his recent enemy stepped into the scene with her bubbly sister. Of course, it took no expert deducing at all for Zhou Yu to realise that this was the woman his best friend had been complaining about for days on end. Still, it seemed so hard to believe that such a delicate specimen would be the cause of all of Sun Ce's recent woes. In fact, it was positively hilarious to the Wu strategist. Before Sun Ce could get Zhou Yu to leave the vicinity, he found the young man leading the two ladies over to his current location. He shot his best friend a look of betrayal, which was met with a mock-innocent 'What?' expression.

Sun Ce rolled his eyes at his best friend who had clearly allowed his libido get in the way of his loyalty. Perhaps labelling the act as disloyal was a tad bit of an overreaction, but he didn't really care about that at this point in time. Nevertheless, he was not about to lose face. Heck, he'd take the advice his best friend had given to him: It was a party, he may as well have fun while he was there.

"Ladies, it is a pleasure to have you here." the young man bowed in their direction; everything about the gesture was overly extravagant and the raven-haired sister clearly detected the sarcasm. Coming here was definitely a mistake, but she wasn't ready to fall down to his level. She had just arrived, it didn't make sense to have such a miserable time.

She bowed her head respectfully at the man with a serene smile on her face, "My Lord." No, she wouldn't give him the satisfaction of getting annoyed at him this evening. "You are mistaken, it is our greatest pleasure and honour to be here tonight." At this point, it was very clear to both people that they were going to play this game. They were going to continue this charade to see whose poker face would crack first.

Although Xiao Qiao and Zhou Yu were a part of the conversation, it seemed as though the little group had been divided in half. The two bystandanders exchanged a glance: partial (actually mostly) amusement, partial concern for their own sides. It was at this moment, the two people realised that they weren't being forced to stand there and watch as the people they loved painfully pretended not to be bickering. Almost as though they knew what the other was thinking, they laughed at the fact that they were on the same wavelength. Coincidentally this sliced right through the tension that was looming over the foursome. Sun Ce and Da Qiao stopped performing their passive stand-off as they wondered what exactly was going on. So far, this was proving to be a most unusual evening. Then again, why should they have been expecting anything less?

Glad that they had somehow created a diversion, Zhou Yu seized the opportunity to quench his curiosity about the woman before him. "Lady Xiao Qiao," he began with a bow. "I've heard so much of the musical talent you sister's possess, would you honour me with a dance?" he gracefully offered his hand, expecting the girl to shyly place her own in his so that he could whisk her away. Unexpectedly however, although the girl did at first daintily provide her delicate hand, the handsome man found himself being dragged away onto the dance floor. The young Qiao sister was unlike anyone he had ever met before, but perhaps this was a refreshing change. He smiled to himself as he found that it was he himself that was being whisked away.

The two that had been left alone were looking strangely at the interaction between the Wu strategist and the bubby girl. It was strange to see them getting along… So well. Da Qiao didn't know whether she should scold her younger sister later as there was obvious flirting going on. While the dancing couple were quite obviously complete opposites to each other, something was clearly causing them to hit it off extremely well. Embarrassingly enough, when either had the opportunity to make eye contact with their non-dancing counterpart, they mouthed something along the lines of 'go dance with him' or used their eyes to signal 'ask her to dance'. They were being far from subtle in their signals, which only made the situation a bit more humiliating. Eventually, Xiao Qiao and Zhou Yu gave up on their cause and disappeared as Zhou Yu twirled her deeper into the crowd.

It was at this point, it seemed as though the couple really had been left alone to be silent in their little bubble together. No matter how much they avoided looking at each other, or even turning away slightly, the other couldn't help but sneak a glance at the person next to them. It was as though there was always this competition between them. Who would give in first?

Eventually, a hand was held out before Da Qiao. He felt as though he had accomplished something by making the first move between them, although his pride was hurt yet again as she merely stared snobbishly at his offer to dance.

"What, you're too good to dance with me?" he teased. "Last I remember, you were pretty forward with me in the guest house." The young man deliberately made the accusation a little bit more audible in case people around their perimeter didn't hear.

"Sun Ce!" she tried to hush him up, and smiled embarrassingly at those around them who were giving judgemental stares. "He's joking, my Lord likes to joke a lot.." the eavesdroppers smirked at her bashful appearance and uncomfortable laughter. She couldn't help but notice Sun Ce's 'buddies' were cheering for him which made her blush significantly more. The girl shot a glare back at him. "Very funny." A sigh. "Fine. One dance." Da Qiao accepted his hand and allowed him to lead her to the floor.

"One dance? I'm so grateful- Ow!" he mocked gratitude, which was met with a kick to the shin.

"Oops, clumsy me…" she apologised with her sickeningly sweet smile.

He rolled his eyes, ignoring her childishness. Yes, he understood the irony of accusing her of childish behaviour.

For a while, the two danced in silence. Then it was Da Qiao's turn to start up a conversation.

"So you stood me up twice. Well done." the young girl hadn't initially intended on bringing up their failed arrangements, but she knew that if it was uncomfortable for her to talk about, it would probably be uncomfortable for him also. To put it shortly, any discomfort she could cause him at this point in the game would make her immensely happy. She watched as he floundered for an explanation.

"Ah, jeez. I had a feeling you'd get worked up about that.."

"Worked up? No, I think my Lord is mistaken.." She quickly interrupted him. "I wasn't upset, I was simply inconvenienced. It takes a lot of time to get to the palace."

He nodded. "Of course. An inconvenience." He winked, making her feel as though he didn't believe her. However on a serious note, he added. "But you know what was an inconvenience? Being forced to slave over a menu that the two of us were meant to enjoy on the first of those failed arrangements only for the young lady to fail to show up… Why was that again?"

"I had a severe migraine. It was brought on by fatigue of sorts…"

"Sure." he rolled his eyes. At least the second time he cancelled was for a real excuse.

"You don't believe me?" she pretended to look hurt. "Is it really so different to postponing your return because you 'fell off your horse'?"

"I really fell."

"Sure." it was her turn to roll her eyes. No, that wasn't lady like. But at this point in their relationship, they were probably past manners.

"No. I really did." he insisted.

Something in his expression made her realise that he was in fact telling the truth. Naturally, she did feel a little guilty. "Oh." Maybe she would cut him some slack. Only some, mind you. "Well, were you very hurt?"

"Do you care?" he replied, unwilling to waste his breath.

"Would I have bothered to ask if I didn't?" she shot back. It was useless to offer him the slack. He didn't deserve it. The tempo of the song increased suddenly and called for a complicated dance sequence. Both participants carried out the steps beautifully. Da Qiao gracefully allowed herself to be led around the dance floor as the Wu prince magnificently fulfilled his role as the lead in the dance. Those merely acting as spectators to the scene would honestly believe the beauty in their body language and be terribly shocked by the conversation.

With a dip, Sun Ce held Da Qiao close to the floor firmly in his grasp. His arms did not buckle under her weight in the difficult position as often was the case when the girl performed this dance. For a moment, the two stared into each other's eyes. A strange feeling overcame them suddenly, and a warmth from somewhere within themselves was kindling. Sun Ce's tanned cheeks turned a shade redder, but he wouldn't allow this to be seen. He realised the song had been over for a few seconds but the dance partner in his arms had not said anything. The moment didn't feel wrong or anything although if they stayed in this position any longer, it would just become a bit awkward. He abruptly lifted her back up; whatever had just happened between them was over.

Sun Ce cleared his throat. "One dance. There you go."

Da Qiao had been more than surprised at the man's ability to move. To be honest, she had only been expecting him to know the basic steps. However when she thought about it, she realised that the man was a member of the Wu family - of course he would be expected to learn the art of dance. She felt silly for wanting another dance; it was her own fault for insisting on the one after all. The porcelain girl simply nodded her head and then looked around as she wondered where her sister had gotten to.

"Well, thank you for the dance," she started awkwardly but felt as though she had to add in something else "I suppose." Just because he could dance well didn't mean that he wasn't still a fool, right? She bowed her head and excused herself. "I need to find Xiao Qiao. It's my responsibility to keep her from acting indecently this evening."

"Sure.." He felt unusual all of a sudden. This feeling the two of them were experiencing was similar to that moment in the rain when he had walked her home. It was almost as though the two of them had really connected for a minute. They had forgotten all about their bickering and had let their defences down; they had seen the real sides of each other. Then again, the man knew that any minute now something was going to ruin this moment. "Well, see ya round. I suppose."

With that, the two parted ways. Both were confused about what had just gone down between them. Da Qiao wondered if the flustered blush that remained on her cheeks was merely from the dance. They couldn't have just shared a true moment together could they? She shook her head and fanned herself with her hand discreetly in an attempt to cool down. This was no time to start feeling something for her enemy. After all, where was this coming from all of a sudden? No. She was only surprised by the fact that he was such a good mover. That was all. It was time to focus on other things now, like finding out where her troublesome sister had gotten to.

As she circuited the dance floor once, heavily scrutinising the faces on it to see if she could recognise her younger sister, she concluded that the girl was not there. Where else was there to go at this party? There were the other rooms of the palace… But Da Qiao was highly doubtful that the Wu courtier, Zhou Yu, would allow such an improper thing to occur. Her inner self panicked slightly. He wouldn't, surely? She knew that her sister was a bit more carefree and naïve than the average girl, but Lord Zhou Yu wouldn't do anything to take advantage of her right? She took a second to breathe and counted to five in her head. As she gathered her composure, and realised that her sister was probably in safer hands than any, she thought she heard the familiar giggle of just the person she was looking for. She looked around and realised that the sound was not from inside, but from the outside. Da Qiao was currently near one of the very large windows of the palace. They had all been left open so that the light breeze from the outside would prevent those residing in the interior not to overheat. It revealed the beautiful gardens that the palace boasted. She was sure that there were many a tree Xiao Qiao would love to climb in it. Well, honestly, she hoped she wasn't climbing up on them; that really would be quite an unnecessary thing to do at such an event.

She decided to follow her instinct and ventured out into the palace gardens. By this time, it was evening and when she stepped out onto the grass, a cool breeze swept over her. She looked up at the sky and saw the moon in its full form. Even though she could still hear the music and excitement from within the Wu palace, it seemed so much quieter here; it was like she had entered another building altogether. If anyone came out here to be alone, she wouldn't blame them. Not only was the evening sky wondrous, but the way the moonlight hit the plants in the garden made the whole palace seem just a bit magical. The sight before her almost took her breath away, and she felt alone with herself for a moment; it wasn't a lonely feeling though, in fact it was quite pleasant.

x x x x

He saw her leave the palace. What was she doing now? If she was looking for her sister, then she was literally headed in the wrong direction. Coincidentally, Zhou Yu and Xiao Qiao had re-entered the banquet hall, all smiles of course. Knowing that her search out there was futile, Sun Ce decided to save her the trouble. Sure, she'd been a pain since the day he'd met her, but the apparently rare moments that they had experienced together made her realise that she couldn't have been that awful. He took a step forward and was literally stopped in his tracks by his own mother and father.

"Darling," the familiar call of his mother caused him to turn around. "You haven't met our German friends, have you?"

The Little Conqueror looked curiously at the new strangers. The man, apparently called Albert Schwarz was a German ambassador in the country. He was a very tall man with tidily cut platinum hair with icy blue eyes that pierced right through his core. While the man was clearly very striking, his wife was also very beautiful. This was the Chinese beauty that his mother had told him about that morning, Mei Li. Well, she certainly was beautiful. She had long, dark hair that flowed down her back as it had a slight wave in it. She wasn't as tall as her husband, but the very slender woman was still very tall. In fact, the appearance of this couple was very hard to describe. While there was certainly something odd about them, it seemed that this quality was what made them so much more strikingly lovely. Everyone who had the chance to take a peek at the foreign couple seized the opportunity to.

Sun Ce bowed in respect to the couple who had just been introduced. "It is my honour to welcome you to China. I am Sun Ce of Wu."

x x x x

"It's beautiful, is it not?" a voice asked behind her.

Da Qiao turned around, startled by the sudden intrusion in her personal moment. The voice of the man that had suddenly appeared was unusual. Although she understood him perfectly, it was as though Chinese was not his first language. When she finally did have the chance to see who it was speaking to her, the girl certainly did see something foreign in him. The mysterious new man had very dark hair which juxtaposed greatly with his piercing blue eyes. This gentleman was certainly Western, yet at the same time there was something undeniably oriental about him. The young girl knew she was staring, but she felt it would be even ruder if she were to enquire his genetic routes. Quickly shifting her staring glance, she felt apologetic all of a sudden.

"Oh, I'm sorry. You startled me."

"I apologise." The man bowed forward politely. "May I ask what a young lady like you is doing out here all alone tonight?"

Naturally, she blushed at the obvious compliment. This man was certainly unusual. Da Qiao had never met anyone quite like him. She smiled, "I'm only looking for my sister. I feel like she wandered off into the gardens."

"Allow me to accompany you." The foreign man had made the request, although it sounded as though he would come even if she had declined his offer. "I won't have you wandering the palace gardens on your own. You never know what kind of person you could bump into."

Da Qiao laughed, partially out of discomfort as this man, no matter how charming he appeared to be, was still a stranger in her eyes. Even though she couldn't quite put her finger on it, there was something odd in his manner. Still, she understood his reasoning and felt that it wasn't too awful of a request. She smiled and they walked out beside each other.

While there was simply silence for a short while, the gentleman spoke up. "I have a sister myself. She's always getting in trouble back home." he smiled in a way which made Da Qiao feel as though he and his sibling were close.

"And… where is your home?" All of a sudden, it felt okay to ask this question. He seemed willing to open up to her. Surely this question wouldn't be too invasive?

"Germany. It's very far from here.." He said with a distant look in his eyes. Did he miss the country? "But my mother is from China. One day I'd like to consider this country my home too." the stranger smiled at her and, in response, Da Qiao smiled back.

They had been walking around the gardens for a while, when the two finally decided that their efforts were pointless. It seemed as though Xiao Qiao was not outside, if she even was. What had made her even come out in the first place?

"I'm beginning to believe this will be a wasted search." laughed Da Qiao.

"Well, I wouldn't say it was a complete waste." the young man said, smiling to himself.

This smile distracted Da Qiao somehow. She couldn't help but compare the man to Sun Ce. He was so different to him. While this man had immediately offered to help her, Sun Ce had simply left her to her own devices when she said she was going off to find her sister. There was also the obvious difference of their manner of speech. For a prince, Sun Ce spoke incredibly colloquially. This gentleman, whose name she did not know at this point, spoke Chinese fluently despite his Germanic origins. Her next thought was interrupted as she suddenly tripped over something. What had it been? She thought they were on a simple garden path. Well, maybe one of the pavestones were loose.

Either way, while she had been walking upright one minute, the next minute she had found herself in the arms of this mysterious and foreign man. He helped her up and she couldn't help but be a little flustered about the incident.

"I'm so sorry! Thank you for preventing a possible injury. I'm not usually so clumsy…" she said once she had gotten her composure back.

He only laughed. "Well, may I have a token of gratitude for this grand gesture?"

Da Qiao laughed also; she didn't quite understand what he could possibly mean. It was only when the man seemed to be leaning in to her did she begin to get uncomfortable. Was he being serious? "W-what are you doing?" She leaned away, although he had he was holding her quite firmly by the arms. If he was joking he would stop any minute. "U-uhm. Sir, this isn't proper. We don't even know each other; I don't even know you're name!"

"Whatever happened to submitting to the moment?" the new stranger that she had encountered was apparently willing to close this gap. Da Qiao closed her eyes, was this really going to happen? Where were all the gentlemen in the world all of a sudden? Was she doomed to forever meet unusual men for the rest of her life?

Her lips did not make contact with anything however. In fact, the person she least expected to help out arrived on the scene.

"Heng Qi Schwarz."

Da Qiao sensed the proximity of the man increase in distance, and the grip on her arms loosened. She stepped away from him quickly and relief swept over her as the familiar voice revealed his face. This was the first time she had ever associated relief with seeing Sun Ce. The Wu prince walked down the garden steps that led to their current location as he surveyed the scene before him suspiciously.

"I don't believe we've been acquainted." He had dropped his suspicions for now; there was no sense in causing a scene or causing aggravation so soon. After all, they were supposed to be forming allies with this western family. He bowed and began to introduce himself. "I am Sun Ce of Wu. Son and heir to Sun Jian."

The German man bowed in return. "Oh, how unfair. You already know my name. But allow me to introduce myself once more for the benefit of this fine lady. I am Heng Qi Schwarz, son of the German ambassador. I am in China to discover the other half of my heritage." Sun Ce spared a sceptical glance at the unusual foreigner as he glanced over Da Qiao, who had somehow managed to wind her way to his own side. "Let's just say, if everything is as beautiful as what I've seen so far… I look forward to seeing the rest of China.

Da Qiao couldn't help but feel strange whenever this Heng Qi looked at her. It just seemed as though he had an ulterior motive. Now that she had witnessed his unusual behaviour, she felt like making a little resolution to herself then and there that she would be more cautious next time she met him. There was clearly a cultural clash between the two of them. The worrying thing about the whole thing, to Da Qiao anyway, had been that she had been rather charmed by the young man at first. A lesson she seemed to be learning was that people weren't always what they seemed. However, what she was now annoyed with herself about the most was that she thought she had already been taught this lesson earlier in life. Why was she letting herself fail the tests of life in this way?

At that moment, a servant of the palace entered, bowed down and said the second most reassuring thing of the evening. "The Qiao carriage is here."

"Thank you." Da Qiao smiled at the servant, who took this as his cue to return to his other duties. At least now she would be able to return to the safety of her own home. This evening, though it had seemed quite a short event, was definitely becoming quite memorable.

She noticed Heng Qi looked as though he was going to offer his companionship once again, but Sun Ce - whether or not he noticed her unease was of no importance to her at that point in time - thankfully swiftly interjected , "I'll take her." She released a short breath.

The German man nodded his head, bowing out gracefully from this one challenge. He strode over casually to Da Qiao, took her hand and kissed it lightly. Sun Ce cocked an eyebrow, wondering how this man was so confident with himself, though he was certainly amused by the look of bewilderment on the Qiao lady's face at the extravagant gesture.

"It was so lovely to meet you, Lady Qiao."

The dark-haired beauty laughed, trying to conceal her embarrassment. "I certainly, will not forget our meeting Mr Heng Qi." With that, Sun Ce and Da Qiao parted with the newly acquainted man so that she could be on her way home.

"You looked pretty cosy with him." Sun Ce mentioned, when the two of them were out of earshot.

Of course, Da Qiao understood what the man meant. She blushed at the implication. "So? I didn't do anything I wasn't supposed to be." Although she said this, she did know what could have happened if Sun Ce had failed to show up. But his sudden conversation topic was making it hard for her to be gratuitous.

"Okay, so what are you acting embarrassed about?" he teased in response.

She looked away, so he couldn't see her face. Was she really blushing so badly? She wanted to feel her cheeks to see if they were producing a lot of heat, but then that would just be proving her companion's point even further. "I'm not acting embarrassed. Why do you care? Are you jealous or something?"

"No!" now it seemed to be his turn to be embarrassed once again. The air turned silence as the two simply stewed in their discomfort. He didn't really want to drop the conversation however. "Why, is there something to be jealous of?"

The girl stopped in her tracks and sighed heavily. "This is a silly conversation. Why do we always talk in circles?"

"You're the one who doesn't answer questions…" was his come back.

"You're not answering mine."

Sun Ce opened his mouth and began to retaliate, however it was then that they both realised that their conversation had looped and they couldn't help but smile at this.

They silently continued their stroll back to the carriage, but Da Qiao did feel that she owed Sun Ce something for coming to her rescue. "Um. I'm kind of relieved you came." It may have seemed a bit of an odd tangent, but the girl was sure he would understand.

"Hm, oh really?" Unfortunately she did not receive a mature response as Sun Ce smirked beside her.

She nudged him slightly out of irritation. "Hey I'm being serious." The young girl shook her head, not understanding how she thought the man would not reciprocate the tone. She continued despite this. "Anyway, I just feel like you should be a bit cautious with that man."

He turned to her seriously. "What? Did he do something to you?"

"No! He didn't do anything to me…" She was about to credit that fact to him, but decided not to. After all his silly behaviour, Da Qiao simply felt that he didn't require the ego boosst.

The eldest son of Wu stared the girl down a little more, sensing that she was hiding something. Whatever it was, he felt as though she wasn't going to let it out any minute, and sighed a bit as he scratched the back of his neck. He wondered suddenly if he would get into any trouble, and if so how much, if he decided to give Heng Qi a little warning. "I wouldn't worry about it. He's going back to Germany after the week is up. Well, so his parents say. The ambassador's wife and son were only going to accompany him on the journey here. After a week of sight seeing, they'll take the long journey back.

"I see."

It was at this point that the two found themselves back at the carriage so it was time for them to part ways now. A little unsure about where they stood with each other after the events of the evening, Da Qiao kept the farewell simple. With a simple nod, "Thank you for the dance, My Lord." she supposed that one could never really go wrong with a formal farewell.

Neither of the two parted ways at that point though. Once again, they seemed to be having one of those moments. A moment like they had shared under the rain, a moment that felt the same as it had when Sun Ce had danced with her. It was a moment where it seemed that their guards were down; they weren't trying to one-up each other. Both of them seemed to be on the same wavelength and were just enjoying it apparently.

However these moments only seemed to last as long as neither of them noticed it. It seemed as though Sun Ce was the one to realise they were doing it again. He built up his walls again and did not allow the girl to connect. Putting on his jokey façade once more, he chuckled. "Oh, wow. What is this?" by referring to the moment they knew they both shared, he was completely tainting it. "Did I impress you so much this evening?"

Yes. The moment was officially over. "Ugh." Da Qiao rolled her eyes. "You have to ruin it." She stormed back into the carriage without sparing the prince so much as a second glance.

As Sun Ce turned to leave, he couldn't help but question the grin he had on his face.

She huffed in her seat, angry at the way Sun Ce failed to even attempt being nice to her at times. Much more to her own chagrin, she found that she was failing to stifle the fact that the corners of her cherry lips were turning up. It was at this point that she caught her sister beside her finding this all terribly amusing. Before Xiao Qiao could even open her mouth to tease her older sister, Da Qiao held up her own finger.

"No. You don't get to say anything."

They could both practically read each other's minds at this point. Xiao hushed up bashfully but then all of a sudden burst out into a fit of giggles, knowing fully well that Da Qiao had been looking for her while she had been having a most splendid evening with Lord Zhou Yu.

"Ah Sis…" she sighed in a loving way, as she leaned on her older sister's shoulder.

While the evening had certainly not gone at all to plan (not that the girl had been planning anything in particular), she couldn't say she was unhappy at this point in time. She looked out the window and watched the lights from the lanterns of the Wu palace fade away in the distance. All the while, the girl maintained that peaceful smile.

"Ah Sis…" she repeated her sister's sentiment and leaned her own head on her sister's.

So there's the fourth chapter up.

After.. How long? I've been feeling so guilty uhhh ==

I'm working on the next chapter right now, but like I said at the beginning - No promises I'm so sorry; I really hate letting you guys down. D;

I love to hear what you have to say about my fanfic. I've loved the positive comments and feedback so far :D

Annie x